By Colleen Thornburgh

"What went wrong?" wonders a CEO. Employee turnover is still rising in spite of an excellent Employer of Choice training event hosted four months ago.

The speakers—who came highly recommended—earned high marks on the post-event evaluation from 200 leaders in attendance. People seemed energized when they left. And yet, employee turnover is still moving the wrong way.

Didn't anybody listen and take action? Why does this event now seem like another "program of the month", destined to fade into distant memory as so many programs before it?

If you've ever had this experience in your organization, you're not alone. While organizations may have a well developed process for assessing the needs of employees and leaders, there may be some key steps missing to link leadership training to organizational results.

As Quint Studer says, "If organizations believe it's important to provide employees with the tools to be successful at their jobs, then the tools they should provide to leaders are leadership competencies.¹ World-class organizations understand the return on investment in leadership development.

In examining best practices at high performing organizations in Studer Group's national learning lab of health care organizations, we find that those who develop leaders follow a simple, prescriptive approach to results-oriented leadership development.

In examining best practices at high performing organizations in Studer Group's national learning lab of health care organizations, we find that those who develop leaders follow a simple, prescriptive approach to results-oriented leadership development.

Align Training with Goals

In our experience, high performing organizations ensure that all training connects back to desired operational results. The goal is not just to train, because training is the tactic used to achieve the goal. For this reason, training must be aligned with well-defined goals to achieve success.

Alignment begins with the CEO and senior leadership team. By staying closely involved in the development of leadership training events, senior executives foster organization-wide commitment to what is most important. "Effective leadership training is a way to proactively build leadership skills long before you need them in an ever changing operating environment," explains Christy Stephenson, CEO at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton. "It does build depth on the bench, but even more tangibly, it builds consensus within the organization, alignment with strategic objectives, and a shared vision for the future."

In "Stop Wasting Valuable Time,"² author Michael C. Mankins noted "80% of top management's time is devoted to issues that account for less than 20% of a company's long-term value." One way to ensure your organization avoids spending too much time in the wrong places is to provide continuous focused leadership development organization wide.

Getting Started

The best way to get started is to build the foundation first by identifying your organization's unique leadership competencies and where gaps appear.

Among the companies recognized in Training's Top 100 learning organizations across all industries, the average number of hours spent on training is 54 hours per employee annually. Studer Group suggests that organizations commit to quarterly leadership development. While recommended training hours can vary based on the goals of the organization and current competencies of the leadership team, we generally recommend 64 hours per leader annually.

Does 64 hours per year sound like a lot of time for senior leaders and middle managers to be off-site together? "It's worth it," says Ed Carthew, chief administrative officer at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Sarasota, FL. "When I speak at other organizations about our success and results, the most frequent question I'm asked is how we find the time. I always tell people that when you see the results, you can't afford NOT to find the time. There are just so many wins."

Empower a Leadership Development Committee

Once you've identified the competencies and made the commitment to quarterly training, create a leadership development committee to link learning with your strategic objectives and desired outcomes. A model that Studer Group has implemented and successfully replicated at many organizations is the Leadership Development Institute (LDI).

Here’s how each team contributes to an outcomes-based LDI:

> The Steering Committee generally includes 8 to 10 people. They select a chairperson who is directed by the CEO to ensure all activities are aligned to the organization's goals. The other members each take responsibility for five key areas: communication, logistics, social, curriculum, and linkage with additional team members. (The size and functions of members can be merged based on the size of your organization.)

> Communication Team —Before the LDI, the team sends a note to leaders outlining the training goals and homework assignments. (Pre- and post-assignments ensure that everyone understands how their actions in the next quarter will contribute to the organization's most pressing priorities.) The team also sends an additional letter to all employees explaining why their leaders will be off-site, what they will be doing, and specific leadership behaviors they should look for upon their return.

> Logistics Team —Coordinates the logistics at the event, including the selection of a training location, food, audiovisual equipment, and table/chair set-up.

> Social Committee —Designs networking activities throughout the training so leaders can get to know each other better to foster collaboration back at the workplace.

> Curriculum Team —Develops the learning material for the session. Taking direction from the CEO and senior leadership team, the Curriculum Team designs outcome-based curriculum, so that attendees acquire the skills they need to improve specific service and operational results upon their return. For example, if an organization were focused on reducing employee turnover, the Curriculum Team would ensure that all attendees learn the current rate of turnover (and goals). They'd also make sure attendees understand the cost of turnover, both direct costs (i.e. agency increase over time) and indirect costs (i.e. delays in treatment, length of stay, and poor operational performance). Then they'd ensure all leaders received training on selected tools that are proven to be effective in reducing turnover (e.g. employee selection, orientation, reward and recognition, how to re-recruit high performers and de-select poor performers).

> Linkage Team —Works with the Curriculum Team—sometimes these two teams are combined—to ensure linkage between learning and results. The Linkage Team creates a Linkage Grid that is distributed to all leaders to show specific expected actions. For example, if an organization is seeking ways to reduce expenses, one assignment on the Linkage Grid might be for each leader to submit one expense reduction idea to their supervisor in the next 90 days. (See "Hardwire It!" this page to download a sample linkage grid for a front-line supervisor.)

Get Results

Research shows that the number one reason employees leave their organization is because of their relationship with their supervisor. As a result, I believe an important goal for every organization is to create great supervisors within their organizations.

The leadership development approach outlined above builds collaboration among leaders that translate to better operational results. What does it mean to a leader? Here's what Tim, a nurse manager at a Tennessee Hospital had to say…

"My organization's commitment to training demonstrates to me how valuable I am as a person and as a resource to the organization. It affirms that senior leadership has confidence in my abilities to achieve and produce meaningful outcomes. That in return bolsters my self-esteem and re-affirms my commitment to the success of the organization. A year and a half since the beginning of this journey, I now know that I can succeed…that I can contribute to successful outcomes, and that I can make a positive difference in the stressful world of health care for my patients, my organization, and my associates. While I still have 80-plus employees that report to me, my stress level has been reduced by at least half of what it was just 18 months ago. And for this, I am thankful.”³

Colleen Thornburgh works with Studer Group partners nationwide to develop and implement strategic and results-oriented leadership development processes and programs. Prior to joining Studer Group, she was chief learning officer for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, an organization ranked as one of the country’s top 100 learning organizations for the past four years.